Palace Fighting: Naive Concubines' Ascent to Power-Chapter 571: Retribution Comes in This Life

The deep night at Canglan Court, tranquil and serene.

Hu Miaomiao, having reported the news she received, asked with a smile, "I request Your Majesty’s permission for this servant to meet with these people."

Her smile was as usual, not reaching her eyes, where beneath the smile hid nothing but murderous intent.

The Emperor immediately consented, "Set out at once to gather your people. I will assign your current duties to someone else. You must bring those people back in custody."

"This servant obeys the order." Hu Miaomiao didn’t utter any unnecessary words at this moment. She promptly performed the ritual of retreat and scurried nimbly towards the distance.

The Emperor’s expression was grave. He knew that the current court layout had reached a critical juncture; sending Hu Miaomiao wasn’t wise, it would be better to send someone else.

But only if Hu Miaomiao went personally would it be the most secure. If Hu Miaomiao wasn’t sent, and if the crucial person died, then no one could prove the innocence of the Little Concubine’s family or discover where her family was.

His Little Concubine, hearing even a hint of someone like her elder brother, was filled with so much anticipation that it was unbearable. When it turned out not to be him, she was utterly disappointed. It was also his fault for teasing her too harshly before; once she figured things out, she didn’t even want to bother with him anymore. No amount of coaxing worked, and now he was facing the consequences.

If she knew about these matters, she would probably be deeply hurt.

Even now, he couldn’t stand to see her current state; if she were hurt, what would he do?

If, by chance, his Little Concubine’s sadness triggered her old illness, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

In the Capital, who exactly wants to target the Little Concubine’s family?

A family that could train so many Dead Soldiers must have power and money. A thorough investigation is indeed necessary.

Even now, he couldn’t understand; his Little Concubine’s family was honest and well-behaved, living quietly in the south. Why would someone from the Capital go through such great lengths to target his Little Concubine’s family? What for?

Night frost descended, and the Emperor gazed towards the Side Hall, lost in thought, silent for a long time.

Zhang Qing bowed and came over, "Your Majesty, the wind is picking up..."

Don’t catch a cold...

The Emperor came back to his senses, the wind lifting his cloak, making it rustle.

He chuckled lightly, "The wind has never stopped; why mention it now?"

The winds of the former court and the Harem had never ceased; he was born unafraid of the wind.

Looking at Zhang Qing, he stifled his smile and said coldly, "Summon the Deputy Steward of the Internal Guard Bureau to see me immediately."

He wanted to see, after his intervention in the court, where those military leaders who colluded with Xue Ping had gone!

Xue Ping’s haste to eliminate Lady Xu and her daughter had another hidden purpose: to secure the safety of an ally about to return, Chen Bian, and those military leaders in cahoots with him.

If Lady Xu and her daughter were punished, no one in the court would again concern themselves with the matter of Shen Ming; thus, the so-called testimony of Chen Bian would end as a mere formality. Those who had climbed the ranks at the expense of Shen Ming would remain safe, which was also one of the reasons why they delayed entering the Capital.

Having seen through this, it was during the court assembly that he pressured them, for military generals fear nothing more than a monarch’s suspicion. In order to dispel his suspicions and also hasten their stance, he looked forward to their imminent arrival at the Capital, especially given the increasingly disadvantageous situation of Lady Xu and her daughter in the current court discussions...

There are only a few days left until the Longevity Festival, and the situation in the Capital grows increasingly tense.

On this day, in the southwest of the Suburban Capital.

A horse carriage hurried along a narrow path, packed with five or six people, among whom two or three still had slightly wet hair, with a young boy driving the carriage at the front.

One of them said, "Young Master, we’ve waded all the routes underwater. Tonight, we must make that son of a turtle spill blood."

Another person said, "Right, even if we sink the Yongding River, we can’t let them take the silver back."

Uncle Ma slapped his head, "What do you mean by sinking the Yongding River? That’s all our silver. Once it’s in the water, that’s our domain. Aside from the river god, who can snatch it from us?"

Wang San said, "Rash Ge, what you said is wrong. Learn from Uncle Ma, he speaks with such domineering presence."

"Yes, yes, yes." The youngster known as Rash Ge rubbed his head, grinning foolishly with hair still slightly damp.

Lian Bao smiled and reminded, "Safety first. If anything is not right, better to abandon the plan than to risk the lives of our brothers."

Tonight, they planned to net Guo Neng and force him to dump the silver into a designated spot in the Yongding River. Then, they could use the hidden currents there to move the silver silently to another location. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

All they needed to do was wait downstream and collect it from the corresponding spot, while the original designated place, no matter how quietly Guo Neng guarded it with more men, would be useless.

They’d been confusing Guo Neng for some days, agreeing on a location but not taking the silver, only sending a message after a long while to make them think tonight would be just like usual, lowering their vigilance. By the time they realized, the silver would have already been transported away downstream.

Uncle Ma and his group had previously mixed with the Grain Transport Gang; some of them were excellent swimmers. One of the boys nearly lost his life in a hidden river near the Yongding River, which is how he knew about the hidden river flowing to a certain location downstream; otherwise, their plan wouldn’t have been effective.

When they reached the city, the rest of the people got off the carriage, leaving Uncle Ma to drive.

Lian Bao went to gather the latest news from the Capital, which he did every day, wandering around everywhere, even among beggar dens where he had informers listening. From nobility in the Imperial Palace down to people from all trades, he listened to all kinds of news.

The carriage turned into an alley and slowly entered the backyard of a brothel called Qingfeng Building.

This brothel was no ordinary place. The madam of the brothel, Aunt Ying, was the senior maid to his mother. Before the calamity at the Marquis of Zhenyuan’s Mansion, her mother had sent her home for a short stay under the guise of a visit, allowing her to escape the disaster.

But as fate would have it, her family turned beastly. Before the troubles at the Marquis’s Mansion, Aunt Ying’s parents and siblings clung to her, but on the day the mansion fell, when she heard the news and tried to rush back, she was knocked unconscious by her brother. Her family, fearing her presence might bring trouble upon them and thinking she might become a liability, sold her to a brothel that very night.

Aunt Ying eventually became a woman of pleasure; when she was about to give up on life and commit suicide, she was saved by the brothel’s madam, who enlightened her, awakening her to reality.

Aunt Ying, who was capable and resourceful, no longer let herself be dejected. As the former chief maid of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, she was already quite perceptive and clever. After she helped the madam solve many problems, she gained favor and was chosen to take over the brothel after the madam’s death.

Latterly meeting Uncle Ma again, over the years, Aunt Ying, managing the brothel, collected and delivered much information to the Grain Transport Gang where Uncle Ma belonged.

People say harlots are heartless and actors have no integrity, but in Aunt Ying’s eyes, the women of the brothel were no less wretched, more compassionate and righteous than her own family by tens of thousands of times.

When Uncle Ma first brought Lian Bao here, he persuaded Aunt Ying to leave the brothel, but she refused, nor would she agree to see his mother. She said that she had failed his mother’s kindness back then and now was too contaminated, fearing she might sully his mother’s sight, and resolutely refused to meet her, stubborn as she was.

Knowing he could not persuade her, Lian Bao stopped trying.

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